FSU Presidential Search Committee Approves New Timeline

The FSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee met Friday to approve a new timeline.

Credit presidentialsearch.fsu.edu

Listen

Listening...

/

1:06

The Florida State University Presidential Search Advisory Committee is taking steps to refine its search process. The committee held its first meeting Friday with new search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates.

The committee approved a new search timeline including a September 2nd application deadline. It also hopes to revise the presidential position description and make a final recommendation to the Board of Trustees by September 22nd. Until then, new search firm managing partner Alberto Pimentel is encouraging faculty and other members of the committee to “recruit aggressively.”

But some members of the FSU community who spoke during a period of unlimited public comment, including faculty member Michael Bakan, believe the process will be too rushed.

“Anybody who would rush to apply for our position and take our position simply because it was the first one advertised is probably really not who we need to run this university,” says Bakan.

But Pimentel says the committee will focus on finding the best candidate for the university.

“If the candidates do not excite, then we have to slow down a little bit to make sure that we get the right candidates in,” he says. “The quality’s going to dictate the speed.”

Members of the Florida Board of Governors expressed concern over FSU’s presidential search at a meeting in Orlando this week and recommended standardizing the search process for all twelve of Florida’s public universities.

The FSU Search Committee will hold open forums on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to get feedback from students, faculty, and staff.

Related Content

It’s no secret Florida State University’s presidential search has put a bitter taste in the mouths of many students, faculty, and alumni. Several of these stakeholders made their voices heard at Wednesday’s presidential search committee meeting.

Some, like FSU student John Emanuello, followed the procedures, using the public comment time to call for a reset in the presidential search.

“Now’s the time to take a step back and revaluate and reassess how the search has gone and where it should go in the future,” Emanuello says.

Florida State University’s presidential search committee is hiring a new firm to find a leader for the school. The move comes after the presidential search consultant quit amid accusations from students and faculty that the process had been rigged.

Bill Funk resigned as FSU’s search consultant Monday, even after Ed Burr, chairman of the university’s search committee says he tried to get Funk to stay. The search committee will now hire a new firm to lead its presidential search in a move Burr calls a compromise with the faculty and students who have opposed the process:

The Florida State University Faculty Senate declared "no confidence" in FSU Presidential Search Advisory committee consultant Bill Funk at its meeting Wednesday night. The Senate believes strong academic leadership and credentials are key qualities for a president who will push FSU into the top 25 public universities – qualities they believe Funk deems less important than FSU loyalty.